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This adorable little peanut came into the studio for her newborn photo session. She was a perfect little baby model! I mean seriously, look at those cheeks! Don’t you just want to smooch them?! As a fan of owls myself (my own wee one’s nursery had an owl theme) I pretty much squealed when her mom pulled out this adorable owl hat to use during her portraits! We joked in our house that having an owl themed nursery jinxed us, as our 4th Pea was a TOTAL night owl. (like his momma) But hopefully for their sake, this little princess has allowed them some good nights sleep.

As anyone who’s looked at my newborn photos and my portfolio of newborn baby images, you’ve likely seen that I’m a big fan of soft textures. Especially, I really love to use real, natural sheepskin during sessions with newborn babies. It’s sort of multiple reasoned, as for one, it photographs beautifully and adds to the feeling of softness in the images. But also, babies LOVE sheepskin. I read once that it’s the natural lanolin that it holds. And as the baby’s own body heat warms it up, it releases it and it’s very soothing to them. I remember when my 3 peas were teeny, it was all the rage to get things for the nursery made with it, crib mattress covers even. Personally, I just like to get the small remnant ones at IKEA, as after naked babies do their business on them, they don’t last through very many washings (they yellow over time) so I have to get new ones pretty often. Which our dog loves, as the old ones come home with me and after being washed become a new pad for his dog crate. He loves them and doesn’t care that they are now yellow instead of the beautiful cream tone that I personally adore. If I have extras, I donate them to our favorite dog rescue.

I just love this session SO much…. my gorgeous little new baby niece. While I love all newborn sessions, it has a different meaning to me when it’s family in front of my camera. For one, my nieces and nephews know me, so in many ways there’s a comfort level that’s just automatic. Although I don’t think any of the adults in the family truly love being in front of the camera, I like to think that perhaps since it’s ME, they don’t dread it as much.

I talk a lot about how photographs are a big part of your family legacy. They are saved, looked at, cherished…for generations to come. But even more so, in the present day, they give children a strong feeling of belonging. Every day when they see up on their walls, or in frames on albums on shelves, a visual reminder how much they are loved and appreciated. I know in my house, there’s days when the kids may be less than, ahem, lovely to each other. I am surrounded by sweet moments on my walls, that exude the truth. The love. The joy. The tenderness. The together. It not only makes me happy, but I know it’s a quiet reminder to my children as well. That we are a great family unit, most of the time. As well as, a reminder of how important we are to each other.

Anyhoo- onto the really cute photographs of my sweet baby niece, when she was just a tiny newborn. OH and did I mention that she’s a Christmas Baby? Yep- this sweet girl was born on Christmas morning. I mean can a family receive a better present? Nope. Nothing is better than adding another sweet little love to your lives.

Needless to say, they are definitely, totally in love with her. As it should be.

A few years ago I was part of a year long photography project called Life Stories. Myself and some amazing photographer friends took on a personal photo project once a month. Well, we are back at it again starting today. I’m excited for this project, as one of my goals this year is to pull out my “real camera” more often with my family, and not just rely on the easy-peasy iphone.

If you follow me on Instagram or Facebook, you have surely seen photos over the past year of dogs. Specifically, dogs in rescue who are adoptable and looking for their forever families. Some of the dogs I post are ones that come in to the studio with their foster person for new photos for their adoption profile with SecondHand Hounds. However, a few of the dogs you’ve seen, are our actual foster dogs. Dogs, that we have taken into our home, until they too find their forever families. In the rescue world, it’s called fostering.

For us, fostering began as a way to find our next furry family member. When our beloved 13.5y old Australian Shepherd passed away in September of 2014, we were devastated. He’d been our first baby, and was a huge part of our family. Being the dog lover I am, I knew it wouldn’t be long until I’d want another dog, and knew that this time around I wanted a rescue dog. I also did not want a young puppy, and therefore was also a bit nervous to just adopt a dog since I still have a young one at home who’s not super calm. I’d heard about fostering, and it sounded like a great way to find our next dog. We take them in, if it’s the right match, we keep it! If not, we help find it a good family that is a right match. So in November of 2014, we took in our first foster dog. He was not a right fit for our family, and was adopted by another family who loved him. Then we took in another foster, this time it was Blue. Who as most of you know we “foster failed” which in rescue world means we kept him (failed to foster, because we adopted!) But what was surprising, was that we had found that even though we never intended to keep fostering, we did. We loved it. The kids loved it. And thus every month or two, we’d take in another dog.Some we only had a few days, some a few weeks, and some a little longer. Over the past fifteen months, we’ve had 8 foster dogs. And plan to continue.

The question I get most often, typically on Facebook, is “how can you give them up?!” It’s a great question. And one I too wondered when we began. I’m not going to lie, it’s hard. Sometimes, really hard. I love these dogs, and when they are in our home they are part of our family. I spend so much time with them, getting to know them. We crate train them, house train them, start obedience training them. I take them everywhere and get to know their likes, their dislikes, their fears….as well as get to see how they are with children, other dogs, cats, men, women, cars, parks, leash walks, etc. The more I know, the more I can help them. Some fosters are easy as pie, others take a lot more patience (Blue was so far, the worst behaved/mannered foster we ever had, he was a mess, lol) But all, over time, show us who they are, and what they need. And in return, we help them find their forever families. How has it been for our kids? More on that below.

How can we let them go? Yes, it’s hard. and yes I cry. I cry more in the day leading up to it, anticipating the hole they will leave behind……but honestly the main reason I can let them go is seeing the love and excitement of their new family. Watching them wag and wiggle with happiness when they’ve met the right match. Knowing that both the dog, and the family, are getting an unconditional love. THAT is what makes it possible. As that’s what it’s all about. It’s not about me. It’s about all of them. The family and the dog. They are the love story with the happy ever after. I just get to be a stop on the way! Plus, knowing that every dog we find a home for, means another dog’s life will be saved when we take them in as our next foster.

Now to the photo portion…..this sweet girl is our most recent foster, who went to her forever home just a few days ago. She’s the sweetest thing ever and the cutest little pitty I’ve never met. We joke that she will likely be “the one that got away” – meaning at some point we may regret not adopting her. But all that really is, is a testament to how much we loved her, and how happy we are that she, who only weeks ago was marked for death in KY, is now thanks to the efforts of LMAS and Secondhand Hounds, living the good life.

Fostering dogs has been an amazing experience for my children. Besides all the extra kisses and love, it’s helped them practice patience, calm assertiveness, and tolerance. They’ve learned you can’t judge a book by it’s cover, and that previous bad experiences don’t have to be forever. They’ve watched dogs go from shy, frightened, nervous puddles, to trusting, calm, sweet bundles of joy. We don’t focus on their negative previous lives, but instead talk about what we can do to help. How consistency, routines, rules, and calm energy makes them feel safe.

My kids have learned how to be respectful of animals. To give them space, and exude kind, calm energy. And, they’ve learned to read the signals dogs give us for when they are feeling a certain way. There’s been some amazing lessons in body language, and how dogs communicate not only overall, but also with each other. Yes more than one of my kids has been mildly bitten, (one dog ended up not being so kid friendly) and that in itself was a life lesson. Any dog can bite if they feel scared/threatened enough, and most give signals leading up to it. They knew this already from our previous old crabby dog, and even with Blue who sometimes when feeling threatened will defend himself against other dogs. While not pleasant, it’s part of it too. And we’ve talked about those feelings (it can be scary when dogs bite/fight) and how we too can overcome those feelings and learn to trust again.

My kids enjoy their part in fostering and saving lives. They talk about it with their friends, share our foster dog photos, and wear their SHH sweatshirts with pride. As a parent, watching them care and support something that is helping so many….it makes me proud.

This is a little collage of all the fosters we’ve had in our home thus far. In chronological order. As you can see we’ve had all sorts, some furry, some not, some big, some small. But all rescued from kill shelters in the south, brought to MN, where they got the chance to have a better life.

If you are interested in learning more about fostering, please check out the SHH link with much more info on the process and I’m happy to answer any personal questions you may have on the subject!

Be sure to check out my fellow photographer friends and their Life Stories Project!

As 2015 comes to a close, a huge THANK YOU THANK YOU to our clients this year!
It was another amazing year, and I’m already looking forward for what is in store for us in 2016!

It’s always fun for me (and by me I mean my awesome assistant Sally) to put together this compilation of most of our sessions from the year. It’s sort of a “where’s waldo” and I just love seeing all these moments together!
It’s so fun to look back at all these faces I had the pleasure of photographing this year. Not to mention I seriously have the cutest and most fun clients ever.

Some of our clients have been with us pretty much since the beginning of 3 Peas Photography, and it’s so fun to see how they change and grow each and every year. If you look back through previous end of year blog posts (links at the end of this post)- you’ll see a lot of the same sweet faces. This is not something I have ever taken for granted. How amazing it is that I get to be a part of families’ photographic legacies. It’s a large part of what I love about what I do, because I know how treasured photographs are for generations. While we love these images in the moment, they grow into larger treasures as the years go by. There’s a quote from a movie I’ve always loved (the quote, not the movie): “The shutter is clicked, ….and they’ve stopped time, as if just for the blink of an eye.” For myself as a mother, it’s why photographs are important to me. It freezes a moment. It’s a way to go back in time, in a tiny way.

Whether I see you every year, or just once in your lifetime, it’s something I’m proud to be a part of, proud to know that I’ve played a role in documenting your family.

Happy New Year!

To take a peek at some previous year’s end of year collages- check out these links!

My poor neglected blog. Every year I swear I’m going to be better at blogging….but I seem to putter out around May… Speaking of May, that’s when this AWESOME family welcomed their third sweet pea into their family! I’ve had the honor of photographing this family ever since their first pea was still in his momma’s tummy. Mom and Dad make not only the CUTEST kids, but they are sweet, kind, fun, and individuals with their own strong personalities. I AdOrE these kids. And their mom and dad too. When I see them coming up on my calendar every year, it makes me smile. As I know it’s going to be a ton of fun!They were recently here as we did a studio maternity session for this third pea. That session was a blast too!
But to keep with tradition, we did their newborn session in their home, just like we did with her big brother and sister when they were newborn babies. Sweet Matilda wasn’t very sleepy that day, and definitely made me work for it- but that’s okay. I always say “babies are for holding!” and I enjoyed all the extra snuggle time I had with her.

Oh how I love this sibling image…..they adore their new sister, and she’s one lucky duck to have them show her the ropes!

I’ve had the honor of photographing all three of this families baby girls over the years, middle sister is the famous little green wrapped snuggle of love that appears up above in my header. I love that image so, I use it on marketing materials all the time! And since her name is Jade, we used a lot of green at her newborn session, as it fit perfectly for her skin tones. So when Scarlett came in, of course we had to include her name color as well! Of course she pulled it off beautifully. She was a peanut, but a super sleeper! Maybe it’s all her sisters love and energy that wears her out, or maybe it’s that same sisterly enthusiasm what keeps her calm and happy as she knows how loved she is! She is definitely one beloved baby sister. They were both so excited to get their turn holding her for photos, and took it very seriously. They are so stinking sweet!

Oh how I love this image of the three of them together. <3 I love how Bianca is beaming with pride, while Jade looks so serious and content, and baby Scarlett just calmly settles her newborn body between them. It’s such a great moment that fits their personalities so well. Showing their sisterly bond, while showcasing their individuality as well. I just adore it…

Thanks A & J for once again choosing me to document the loves of your lives! Your girls are so much fun, and just sweethearts. It’s been so a joy, and such an honor watching your family grow over the years, from 1, to 2, to 3 kids! And watching you all become such smooth, calm parents with every addition to your home. You make it look easy the way you just take everything in stride! Whatever your trick is, it’s working!

Did you know that The St. Paul Saints have an event where you can bring your dog to a game? I mean seriously how fun is that! Minneapolis and Saint Paul really are amazingly pet friendly. There are so many opportunities to bring your canine friend along with you on adventures. During their “dog day” event- I volunteered with Secondhand Hounds to help in their Photo Booth. For a small donation, game attendees could get a sweet photo of their pup! It was So much fun, and it helped raise some nice money for a great rescue! Here’s a peek at a few of the adorable pups I got to meet and photograph.

We’ve fostered a few dogs through SHH, and it’s really been an amazing experience. Summer is typically their BUSIEST season, and they are in need of more foster families! I’m happy to chat if you want more information on what it all entails. They also have great info on their website here. I promise it’s easy, it’s entirely up to you which pets you foster, and it’s an amazing way to help save a dog (or cat’s) life. One thing in the summer they often are in need of, are temporary fosters. Which means, the regular foster has to be gone (vacation/family events) and they need a temp foster to take their pup for just a few days. It’s a great way to help in a known time frame! It’s a nice way to get your toes wet with the fostering program.